Ready for another newbie question? (NOT an emergency))

[Jillis]

Here's my dumb question:

A little background first.

I've only ever had one pg goat, and she looked pg when she first settled, the week I bought her. She had a big, big belly until I finally found a wormer that worked on her, 7 months after she gave birth to her triplets on my farm.

Now I have been breeding my girls to my 3 bucks.

The first one to be bred was my biggest goat and herd queen to the big dairy girls, and large Nubian named Esmerelda. By 2 months she looked obviously pg and is still growing. I bred her to an Alpine from large, big-boned stock.

Now I bred my other 2 Alpine does to my Nigerian Dwarf buck. One I bred to him because she's small-boned and delicate, and I didn't want to use the BIG Alpine buck for obvious reasons, and the smaller Alpine buck is her brother. I want minis anyway, so it made sense to breed her to the Nigie. (Plus, her brother was too young to breed when she was in heat.)

I bred the big Alpine doe to the Nigie as well, because the big Alpine buck is her brother, and the little Alpine buck wasn't ready to breed when she went into heat.

I think that now, at a little over 2 months from breeding, that I am seeing some growth in their bellies that could be babies. But it is winter, and they get furrier, and I've been fooled before. I had to rebreed a few of the girls I bred to the Nigie, probably because I hadn't yet found out to wait for the buck throwing his head back and the doe doing the hunchy-butt thing. I am hoping these girls don't need to be rebred, which is why I am observing them so closely.

NOW, here's the question:

They are big and healthy, but right above their bellies and in front of their hips, they look a bit hollowed out. This should not be, as they are VERY well fed. And being the dominant goats, they dominate the grain.

However, being that if they are pg, it would be with minis, maybe they just aren't "filling" to the extent the Nubian doe is. Could the weight of the babies be pulling their abdomens down enough to just cause that bit of hollowing out at the hips? They definitely looke rounder and bigger in the belly---harder to tell with the bigger girl than the delicate one, but it is there. And on the bigger one---she was standing at the fence stretching for grain I was holding, and she had a funny, round, very obvious bump sticking out her right side. This went away later in the day, but I was hopeful it might be some babies in a funny position.

Any thoughts? I wish I had X-ray vision.

[Patty0315]

At 2 months bred I don't expect to see much in the way of a baby belly . The hollow part is because they are dairy goats. Its normal. When was the last time they were wormed or checked for worms? without seeing the "hollows" I cannot say 100 % there is not a problem

[Jillis]

They were wormed about a month before being bred with Cydectin cattle pour on. We have had a warmer than usual winter, but I still am not too worried about worms yet. Maybe that is just my inexperience?

I know that most people say the goats don't show much belly too early, but my Nubian got BIG early and is the size of a barrel now. She is due in Mid-March. So I wasn't sure what to expect with these 2, they were the next ones bred after the Nubian and so would hopefully be the next to show bellies, although as I mentioned they were bred to a Nigie so they will have smaller than normal for their breed babies.

[pookshollow]

I've got four pregnant ones at the moment (well, five counting the Nigie that has been "any day now" for the last two and a half months! )

One, Sara, is a first freshener, due end of March - I think I can see some evidence that she's pregnant. She looks a little bigger than she used to - and dh has noticed it too - but I'm not 100% sure. Angel is the same age as Sara, but she was bred last year. She was bred two weeks earlier and again on the same day as Sara, but she is definitely showing. She's also lying around complaining about how pregnant she is - Nubians! The two Nigerians are also due in March, and have been bred before - I think they're starting to look a bit rounder.

I think as you get to know your girls, you'll be able to recognize it more easily. I'm told that the one due very soon always gets as big as a house. We swore last time that she was having quads at the very least, and she had twins.

[mygoat]

The only way your does would be seriously showing a baby belly that early is if they had a large number of multiples in there. And the hollow spot is very common in dairy goats and also in does that have had babies before; They're literally streched, hehe. it doesn't mean they're skinny.

[LMonty]

any chance they were exposed before you knew? were they running withthe baby buck a few months before this?

[Jillis]

I suspected that was true---about them not showing yet unless there is a number of multiples in there. I believe my Nubian might have a large amount of babies inside because she is just ginourmous.

I feel a bit better, thank to all for your help.

[Jillis]

Originally Posted by LMonty

any chance they were exposed before you knew? were they running withthe baby buck a few months before this?

Nope, no chance. The bucks are from this year's crop at the farm where I got their sisters last year. I hand breed and know to the day who was bred and to whom. That's a plus, I guess.